Fox's Prey
by Iliya Moroumetz
Summary: Kenshin and everyone else has left for Kyoto and Megumi is left behind to take care of the Dojo, only to find someone waiting there...


[Warhammer sits in disguise just outside the vicinity as the clouds above begin to gather.]  
  
WH: This is probably going to be the most risqué fic I've ever written. Though nothing explicit is seen here, be warned that some rather dirty stuff follows this intro. Consider yourself warned.   
  
TWHammer presents  
  
Fox's Prey   
  
A Rurouni Kenshin work of fanfiction  
  
  
  
Megumi sighed as she closed the door to her office.   
  
It had only been a week and a half since Kenshin had left for Kyoto to stop the man named Shishio, but it felt infinitely longer. And it was only a few days before she had sent the little tanuki and her student after him. She hadn't even known when Sanosuke had left after Kenshin, more likely that not in a rage over the fact that Kenshin had left so suddenly.   
  
She sighed again at the irony that she was the only one of the short-lived 'Kenshingumi' that stayed in Tokyo. As much as she hated to admit it, she wished that all her patients were doing better so she too could pack up and travel, but it was too much to hope for as recent fights involving suspicious characters around the neighborhood were keeping her busy enough to remain.   
  
She frowned at the gathering clouds above and wished that the rain season had already passed. She couldn't stand the rain. It wasn't so much that her clothes got wet and her hair ruined, it was something that went much deeper.   
  
The day that she saw her home drowning in flames, it was pouring. She was only a girl of eight at the time. The rain hurt her. She was trying to run, but the rain kept hitting her, pushing her down. Trapping her like an animal.   
  
Shaking her head, she left the past as it was as she reached the door of the Kamiya dojo. Kaoru had asked her to take care of the place while she and Yahiko were gone. Though Megumi did not mind having a place to stay for the time being, it was the thought of being alone in such a large and well-worn dojo made her slightly jumpy.   
  
She turned around to see the rain starting to fall harder and felt safer knowing that she was at the dojo, safe and sound. She inserted the key into the door, but the lock wasn't secured.   
  
"What?" she wondered aloud. No one else had keys to the dojo. Unless...   
  
"Ken-san?" She called his name again as she raced towards the main hall of the grounds, hoping to the heavens that Kenshin had returned. She didn't care if Shishio Makoto had won or not, all that mattered that Kenshin was back, safe and sound.   
  
She threw the door open, hoping that Kenshin was there and immediately regretted it. Standing in front of the family head stone stood the last man she expected.   
  
Shinomori Aoshi.   
  
The fear immediately caused her heart to beat much faster. The man that wanted more than anything to kill Kenshin for some silly title. Yet, what frightened her were not his ambitions, but how far his desire for that title would drag him.   
  
He turned to see her backing up, "Woman. Where is the Battousai?" He started to pace his way towards her, not wanting anything related to the Battousai out of his grasp.   
  
Between ragged breaths and backward pacing, Megumi gathered her courage and answered, "I don't know... and even if I did, I would never tell someone like you."   
  
Aoshi seemed to float over the ground and had closed the gap between them in a unusually short amount of time. The rain had started to grow stronger, soaking his clothes and sending small splashes of water with every step.   
  
With a smooth movement, he reached forward and cupped her head with one hand and grabbed her shoulder with the other. "Do not lie to me, woman. Battousai was here and you will tell me where he has gone."   
  
In a surge of anger derived courage, Megumi struggled and pushed herself away from the ninja. Yet, his grip was strong and unrelenting. So much that her kimono had started to slip from her shoulders and immediately, Megumi wished she had never done so. "And if I don't?" she challenged.   
  
The woman was showing a great amount of spirit in the face of someone who could easily kill her. Aoshi could not help but admire her courage, if not the intensity of anger flaring in her eyes.   
  
"Or else..." he whispered before letting go of her head and taking a fist full of her hair and pulling it back to force her to look at him directly, "I will kill you."   
  
This was not the first time Megumi had ever heard someone threaten to kill her, but it was either Kanryu or some other poor excuse for a samurai. Shinomori Aoshi was a completely different story.   
  
What was worse was that the rain was making her heart race more. She had a hard time seeing his face, and was feeling that there was little to no alternative. In a bold move, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his face into hers with a savage, demanding, and almost animalistic kiss.   
  
What surprised her was when he did not resist in the least. In fact, he was reciprocating her action with a vicious kiss of his own. It was beyond infuriating, yet so exhilarating at the same time.   
  
When it ended, the rain had soaked them both to the bone and they were gasping for breath. Now, whispered Megumi's mind as she pulled out a short dagger from the sleeve pocket of her kimono.   
  
"Not if I kill you first," she whispered savagely and struck. As much as she tried to hide it, she loved being called a fox. The name gave her a strange feeling of empowerment by being a sly, cunning, and manipulative hunter. Megumi Takani was the hunter, and Shinomori Aoshi was to be her prey.   
  
The edge of the blade was only millimeters from Aoshi's skin as he caught her wrist and pried the knife from her hand. Yet, Megumi still continued to struggle. Aoshi was her prey, and she would collect, regardless of the cost.   
  
The rain? Ha! The rain could never bother her again, for she stared death in the face, and held it by the reigns for but a moment. Yet, adrenaline feeding into her bloodlust made any action justifiable. Even more curious was when Aoshi should have killed her, instead he gathered her in his arms, dragged her into the dojo, and kissed her just as savagely as she had done to him.   
  
She returned it again and would have laughed out loud had she been given the time when clothes were shed, the door was closed, and a most primal interaction between a woman and man took place.   
  
The fox had captured its prey.   
  
*   
  
In the darkness, Megumi awoke and shook her head from the pounding headache she was experiencing. She remembered the events of what happened earlier and wondered exactly possessed her to do what she did.   
  
She looked with what little light there was to the sleeping and unclothed form of Aoshi on the floor and noticed several still bloody marks left on his shoulders. In fact, he was scratched up more than first impressions gave. She silently clothed herself in her still drying kimono and pulled out a small first aid kit, similar to the one she gave to Kaoru out and started to apply the ointment to several of the deeper scratches.   
  
Aoshi's eyes blinked several times before he noticed Megumi tending to his wounds. "Why are you doing this?" he asked silently.   
  
She looked to him as she placed a clean bandage over his shoulder; "It is my duty as a doctor. I don't like it, but I would never live with myself to leave a man injured. Even someone like you."   
  
"I was the one who threatened to kill you in the first place."   
  
She nodded, "Yes, but I also wanted to kill you."   
  
During a break between her tending his wounds, he stood up, pulled his pants back on and sat in front of her to allow her continued treatment.   
  
"You are brave, woman."   
  
Megumi frowned, "I have a name, you know."   
  
"I don't say woman because I do not know your name. I say it because you have much more courage than any female I've ever seen. To have the courage to stand up to someone that can easily kill you when you know that they can do so is worthy of respect."   
  
Megumi retorted sardonically, "Even if I used tactics any common whore would have used to save her own skin?" The memory of being Kanryu's arbitrary lover was bad enough, but do have done this willingly with Aoshi of all people was downright shameful.   
  
"To err is human. I too feel a sense of regret doing what we did. Any woman of strength deserves a man worthy of her. Not in this manner."   
  
She chuckled at his words, "Flattery will get you nowhere. I'm still not going to tell you where Ken-san went."   
  
He nodded understandingly. "I know. It would be futile to try and extract the information from you, since you seem determined to keep his location a secret. And since no one else around here seems to know, I will continue my search for him."   
  
"That's what I don't understand. Why?"   
  
"I do not wish to leave this world allowing Beshimi, Hyotokko, Shikijo, and Hannya to be remembered as being the victims of a toy gun. They deserved better than that fate."   
  
Megumi remained silent. Kenshin had told her the events leading to her rescue. In a way, she was indebted to those four. She then spoke up, "how do you suppose killing Ken-san will put their souls at rest. Ken-san was not the one that killed them."   
  
Aoshi closed his eyes as she applied the last bandage, "The Oniwa Banshu will be remembered as the strongest. Nothing else will do."   
  
Megumi was about to reply when the door swung open and that disgustingly polite cop, Saito Hajime crossed his arms and snickered. "Well, it's about time. I had to go home and catch some sleep because you two were acting like a pair of dogs in heat all night."   
  
The sun was at its point in mid afternoon as light flooded the dojo and his frown turned into a grin at her discomfort. Megumi frowned that he would have the gall to be peeking at a time like this. Shinsengumi or not, he had no right to intrude on the privacy of others.   
  
"Saito Hajime. Why are you here?" Aoshi whispered dangerously as he dressed, clearly displeased at his presence.   
  
Saito's grin broadened and he answered, trying to calm the stirring anger of Aoshi, "Oi, oi. Calm yourself. I just wanted to let you know that the Battousai's gone to Kyoto. Let me bring you up to speed."   
  
*   
  
The sun was setting as Saito had explained all the events leading up to Kenshin's departure.   
  
"Shishio Makoto, you say?" Though he lived in Kyoto for a while before coming to Tokyo, the name was a faint one. Only heard in whispers and rumor. Now, that man wanted to take over Japan. Worse yet, he would be very likely to take the Battousai's life before Aoshi got the chance.   
  
With his Kodachi in sheath, he walked out of the dojo before taking a single last look at Megumi, then exited.   
  
Megumi held her tongue for long enough before exploding into Saito's face, "What were you thinking, you stupid cop! He's going to kill Ken-san!"   
  
The ever present smirk on his face, Saito replied coyly, "Calm yourself, woman. I was certain he would have killed you had I not come, but it looks like I was wrong. You had things well under control. Besides, are you that desperate to get the Battousai in the sack too?"   
  
Within the duration of a second, Megumi's anger died and soon was replaced with embarrassment. She continued to fume as Saito left her to her own devices. The impatience of the fox lead to the wolf's victory in patience.   
  
Looking back to the dojo, she cleaned up the mess she and Aoshi had made and wondered if Kaoru would ever find out. Well, if she did, she'd had good reason to tease Kaoru some more.   
  
She laughed out loud heartily at the thought of a raging Kaoru, smacking Yahiko and Sannosuke for making some crude remark and Kenshin saying 'Oro' in surprise as usual. The laughter died when she looked down to her stomach and held it.   
  
Even if she had gotten pregnant from what happened last night, there would never be any child born from her womb. Kanryu had seen to that. Though any of the brothel girls she had known in the past would consider that a blessing, she cursed it the second she learned the awful truth.   
  
Worse yet, Aoshi was still out there and still determined to kill Kenshin. Yet, maybe, from that mistake, as painful as it seemed, maybe her words had struck a chord in him, somewhere deep down. If so, she hoped it was the right one.   
  
The End.   
  
[Warhammer is pouring water over himself repeatedly by the stream, clearly exasperated.]  
  
WH: I feel dirty!  
  
Egads! What the heck was I thinking! Talk about your corny poor excuse for a lime! May the heavens forgive me! Actually, this fic was based off of a challenged off a ML I'm on. The challenge was to write a scene inspired from a single pic. The pic showed Aoshi and Megumi in the rain, his coat was off and her kimono was slipping off, you get the idea.   
  
Though I would have preferred putting Kenshin in Aoshi's place in this fic, I do like the result from the story as a whole. It also makes you wonder exactly why some people act the way they do, by that I mean acting like animals instead of humans. Just comes to show how little I know. :p Also, it kinda gives me a charge seeing Megumi in a 'kicking butt and taking names' kinda mode, even if for a few scenes.   
  
Finally, as for Aoshi's remark after he woke up, it's true that I'm putting in the way I see things with regards to promiscuity. Yet, I would imagine, as tradition bound as Aoshi is, he would at least give some regard to the sanctity of the act. After all, though Aoshi maybe a chew bubble gum and kick butt guy, I doubt he'd be the type to let his passions get the better of him. But I digress.   
  
Anyway, I hoped you liked it, and I pray that something just as bitter comes along to wash out the taste. :p   
  
[Warhammer pours another bucket of ice cold water over his person and shivers some more.] 


End file.
